Hope the Vampire Slayer
by Unchain Utopia
Summary: In the small British country town of Findale, Hope Fay discovers a strange power within her, and is thrust into the middle of a magical world in chaos after a cataclysmic event.


He cried out. The blade had gone right through his padding and, she suspected, was causing a great deal of discomfort to his stomach. Hope was still staring at it, still not quite believing it. After a short period the referee finally snapped out of his own stupor, as the audience began to mutter and whisper amongst themselves. She hadn't meant to hurt him. In fact, it shouldn't be possible for her to hurt him. The referee , who was himself at a loss as to what should be done, called off the match and dialled for an ambulance. She was told to leave the piste and return to the locker room. There she was met by Ash sitting on a table, smirking at her and slowly clapping as she entered. Hope looked at her accusingly.

"For gods sake Ash, can't you at least pretend to care about the guy? I'm quite sure I just stabbed him. In the stomach. With a blunt sword."

Her smirk transformed into a grin.

"He'll be alright, it's just a flesh wound."

Hope rolled her eyes at her.

"I'm more interested in that you've probably just made fencing history. And here I thought this would be a dull evening …"

At that moment Malcolm, Ashley's brother, tripped through the door, caught himself on a nearby locker, almost knocking it over in the process.

"Did you… Did you just stab Josh?",he panted.

Hope threw her hands in the air.

"Why does everyone just assume I did it on purpose? I probably have even less of an Idea about what is going on than you. I just hope he'll be alright."

Mal turned his head back towards the hallway.

"Oh don't worry, it isn't that bad, he'll be alright. It's just a flesh wound."

Hope sighed.

"I should have seen that coming."

Ash jumped of the table and walked between the two.

"Well, there is nothing we can do about it now so how about you take off the rest of your gear and we go get some dinner?"

* * *

Half an hour later they were seated in the White Cat, proudly home to the second best coffee in Findale and the towns local Roleplaying community, each of them sitting in front of a sizeable sandwich. The room was surprisingly empty, considering it was one of Findales only two coffee shops, with only a few people scattered across the sparsely illuminated, heavy wooden tables. Ashley, as was usually the case, was filling the silence.

"I've been working on a new thing in chemistry class. You put your phone in it so two legs extend from it, which you can then program directly from your phone to walk wherever you want it to. Well, it'll be able to do that once I figure out how to stop it from tripping over its own legs.."

Mal looked at her sceptically.

"So you are trying to give your phone legs. Why?"

Ash shrugged.

"Don't know yet. But I'm sure I'll come up with a reason eventually. Why so quiet Hope? Don't tell me you're still stuck thinking about what happened earlier. You know…"

Hope suddenly felt a surge of anger.

"What do I know, Ash? That it's okay for me to stab someone in the stomach? You can't expect me to not worry about Josh after accidentally ramming a sword through him. Actually, you yourself could…"

Her shouting was interrupted by the sound of the glass cup in her hand shattering. If everybody had not watched her yelling before, now all eyes in the room were on her.

"I… I'm sorry. I should go", Hope said to no one in particular, hastily pulled some money out of her wallet, and hurried ou the front door, not checking if Ash and Mal had followed her.

* * *

When Hope finally arrived home, Laure, her adoptive mother and Principal of Hillside Cloister Secondary School, a hard woman in her early forties with hair the color of steel, was waiting for her on the couch inside the laconic living room.

"I heard what happened. Are you alright?"

Hope stared at her incredulously.

"Am I alright? Why does no one care about the guy that was actually stabbed in the stomach?"

Laure gave her a strangely worried look.

"He should be fine. What concerns me is that you look as if you had seen a ghost. Is there something you want to tell me?"

After Hope finished talking about her fear of her newfound, apparently supernatural strength, she felt relieved. Laure may not be the most tactful or sensitive person, but Hope could always trust her to give good advice. Laure said nothing for a short time, an unpleasant look on her face, but then finally replied.

"It's probably nothing. Sleep over it and it will probably go away".

Hope could not help herself and stared at her incredulously once again. That was not at all what she expected. She opened her mouth in order to say something along the lines of "Stabbing someone in the guts through a thick layer of padding wit a blunt sword is not the same thing as a headache", but Laure was already leaving for her bedroom.

* * *

Hillside Cloister Secondary School used to be, as the name suggests, a cloister, later converted into a school. The archaic impression it gave when looking at it from the outside was confirmed when one stepped inside. The walls were bare stone, the tables and chairs were oak wood and the students dressed in somber black uniforms. Though the somber mood Hope observed today was quite recent, and had set in last Thursday, when a student disappeared who was still missing. Her first class was history, one she usually enjoyed but couldn't get into today. She was still infuriated. With Ash for being seemingly completely apathetic to other peoples pain. With Laure for so obviously hiding something from her. The Bell rang without her coming to any conclusion as to what that something might be. She took her bag with great care not to break anything and went out into the cloister garden.

There she found Ash walking towards her grinning.

"Hey, can you come with me for a second? I want to show you something."

Hope raised an eyebrow.

"The phone-leg-thing?"

Ash seemed impatient

"Yeah, whatever, just come with me."

Hope was used to this sort of stuff with Ash, and followed her. She was led across multiple corridors, some of which she didn't know existed, until they reached a locked door. Ash produced a strangely white key from somewhere and was fumbling with the lock. Hope looked around and saw the backs of Mal and Ash walking along another corridor. She waved and stared calling

"Hey, A…"

Suddenly, the realization dawned on her, just as a cold hand clasped her mouth and dragged her into the room. The thing that was not Ash locked the door and turned towards her. And began to melt.

The face that once was Ash melted down the creatures face in streams of blood and shreds of skin, revealing a gaunt figure with empty eye sockets, inch-long claws and a coat of white bony material covering its skin. Hope could not scream. It began opening its mouth in what was both a grin and a snarl, showing two rows of fine, needle like teeth. Hope felt a rush of adrenaline, braced herself against the wall, and pushed. The creature flew across the room, looking just as confused as Hope felt herself. She began running towards the door, but the creature recovered quickly and began circling her. Hope heard someone trying to unlock the door. The creature lunged at her leg, drawing blood and forcing her on her knees. It lunged again, slashing across her arm. She cried out. There were sounds of someone banging at the door. It was now towering over her, raising its arm to strike. There was a loud, dull noise. The creature was thrown forward, regained balance, and turned around. Ash and Mal were standing in the doorway, the door itself standing open, broken in by something, and Laure was standing in front of it, holding a longsword. When the creature threw itself at her, she moved with a swiftness Hope had not expected from her, and slashed at it several times, the blade glancing off its bony armor. Laure took a few steps back and assessed their surroundings. The room seemed as if it had not been in use the last few centuries, and was empty, save for a few dusty shelves on the wall. The creature charged at her. Just before it came crashing into her she took a step to the side and turned around the sword, gripping it by the blade, and striking its throat with the guard. There was a satisfying cracking sound, and the creature was pushed on its back. Wasting no time, Laure took hold of the handle with one hand, ramming the blade into the crack in the struggling creatures throat. The creature started twitching uncontrollably, blood flowing down its throat, until it suddenly stopped moving.

Mal and Ash took her to the hospital, all of them shaken, not saying a word. Ash opened her mouth a few times, but never said anything. They stayed there, silent, until Laure arrived, having disposed of the body. She sat down next to the bed and looked at Hope.

"I think I have some explaining to do."


End file.
